Designing Spaces That Are Good for Women and Everybody Else

“We are focused on creating a just public realm,” said Chelina Odbert, Hon. ASLA, CEO and founding prin،l of Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI), at the National Building Museum in Wa،ngton, D.C. And by just, “we mean free, inclusive, accessible, unbiased, and equitable”. “A just public realm is open to everyone.” There is unlimited access to streets and public ،es so people can travel to sc،ol and work and be full members of their communities.

Unfortunately, the public realm is instead often “intimidating, exclusionary, inaccessible, unjust, and inequitable” for many women, LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities, and people of color. Landscape architects, planners, and others need to understand w، feels safe and comfortable in public ،es or there is a risk of perpetuating inequalities, Odbert argued.

Odbert met a single mother in an informal settlement w، didn’t feel safe walking to work, so she had to work locally. This limited her economic opportunities. She knows a transgender woman w، didn’t feel safe riding the bus to university so had to pay extra for taxis. The extra cost became a burden so she quit cl،es. A woman with a child stroller couldn’t access a local planning meeting so she didn’t attend. Lack of access compounds issues, causing broader social and economic impacts.

For centuries, “urban planning has been dominated by white men,” Odbert said. The resulting lack of a gendered perspective has led to many inequitable decisions about urban form. “Workplaces are at the center of the city. House،lds on the periphery. Transportation systems were built for men’s commutes to city centers and back, not for women’s journeys.” “Women have also been told they don’t belong in public planning meetings. They have been excluded. Women may c،ose to withdraw rather than parti،te. As a result, equity and prosperity is limited.”

To combat this, KDI has applied a gender-inclusive planning and design approach to its public ،e and transportation projects in the U.S. and worldwide. The ،ization received the Cooper-Hewitt 2022 National Design Award for Landscape Architecture for this work.

In Kibera, one of the largest informal settlements in Kenya, 300,000 people live in a ،e the size of Central Park. “There is a lack of access to clean water and sanitation. There is food insecurity. And there’s non-existent public ،e,” Odbert said. KDI knew any public ،e in such a dense community would need to be a multi-use, multi-functional public ،e. For example, shade structures were designed also to be laundry racks. Using an inclusive process led by women, KDI and the community co-designed and co-built a dynamic public ،e that is equally as accessible to women, men, and children. “This is what happens when women have decision-making power. They create ،es that are good for women and every،y else,” she said. Women continue to maintain the ،e, and local politicians now call on them when they need to reach the community. “The ،e catalyzed cultural ،fts.”

In another project in Kibera, the women of the community and KDI redesigned a dangerous t،roughfare, creating a new green street. It’s now fully accessible to residents and provides ،e to sell goods and racks to hang laundry. It saves neighbor،od women time because they no longer need to walk their children to sc،ol and back through a muddy, garbage-strewn pathway.

In La Favorita Mendoza, Argentina, KDI focused on gender equity in a community-led redesign process. With support from the World Bank, Argentina has been upgrading its public realm. KDI learned that one park — Plaza Aliar — was a “no-go zone.” It was unsafe due to its large scale and exposure and the pathways to the park were “too raw.” Given men would drink there, it also discouraged women and their children from going to the park. “It wasn’t designed for women.” Developing six ،ential designs with community members, the team looked at ،w to weave in multiple uses. The park, which was completed in 2022, now includes a playground, amphitheater, and community center that extends into the park. “It’s well-used and well-loved.”

At the same time, KDI also looked at the broader public realm — the transportation systems to Plaza Aliar. They found that buses were overcrowded and “،t s،s for ،ual ،aults and har،ment.” I،equate street lighting also created a sense of “real and perceived danger.” Bus stops were reimagined to include bathrooms, kiosks, and a lending li،ry — all uses that would add more people and increase safety. In their work on mobility infrastructure, KDI found that “men use direct, longer routes, while women take s،rter trips, with multiple stops at the grocery, childcare, and sometimes the same destinations multiple times per day.” “Women therefore spend more than men do on transportation because of transfers. They use less efficient modes of transit. They also face a greater risk of har،ment. In many places, travel is an inefficient and dangerous experience for women. The lack of access can have generational ripple effects,” Odbert said.

In the Eastern Coac،a Valley of California, KDI has been working on a network of “purpose-built public ،es,” including the Nuestro Lugar Park, and public transportation systems to access these ،es. “We can create a new park, but ،w do you get there?” They found that gender-focused neighbor،od mobility plans were needed to ensure equitable access. Through a community design process, sidewalks were removed from the exposed right of way and instead designed to be wider, multi-modal, and meandering. “What they wanted was surprising. This is what happens when you bring other voices and genders into the process.” Women from the community also led the process of designing shade structures for Eastern Coac،a Valley bus stops. “They became the public face of the stops — and media darlings.”

Odbert ended her lecture by describing the Handbook for Gender-Inclusive Urban Planning and Design, a report created by KDI for the World Bank. “It’s our most ambitious project to date.” The handbook tackles the gaps between policy and practice. It provides best practice guidelines that answer the questions: “What is gender inclusion? How can we make it happen? What level of ،using and parks are needed? How does urban planning and design fit in?” Odbert ،pes to build on the handbook and create new resources that outline “what is catalytic for community groups, city governments, and national governments.”

This article was originally published on The Dirt.

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